HD Homilies- Weeds

We have a pretty large yard at our house in beautiful Wallace, NC.  There are dozens of trees and bushes and several “natural areas” where we gave up on trying to grow grass.  We have spruced up these natural areas with hosta plants (which the deer consider salad greens), Dutch Irises (that are fabulous right now) and a few other UFOs (unidentified flowering objects.)  We are not sure if some of these “other” plants are weeds or treasured perennials.

A good friend of ours happens to be a certified Master Gardener.  He has taken numerous classes and knows a lot about all things green.  He said there is one certain way to know if a plant is a weed or a flower.  (You might want to write this down.)  The process for distinguishing a weed from a flower is simple: grab the stem and gently give it a tug.  If it comes out of the ground easily, you know it is a flower.  Great!

Apparently, folks in Jesus’ time had the same dilemma trying to distinguish an unwanted weed from a valuable crop.  Jesus tells a parable about a man who sowed good seed in his field.  One night, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.  As the wheat grew, the weeds also appeared.  Servants of the man wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner replied, “No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let them both grow together until the harvest.” (Matthew 13:29-30)

Jesus prefaced this parable with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” (Matthew 13:24). Jesus is not talking about agriculture here. He is helping his disciples understand how God works in the world. There are saints and sinners sitting side-by-side at the lunch counter and the church pew. Just as soon as we start making moves to get rid of the “weeds,” we risk uprooting the very ones God has placed in our path.

As servants of the king, it is not our place to weed out, throw out or shut out anyone else.  We are called to germinate, pollinate and cultivate relationships that bring forth fruit.

That is what Jesus did.  No wonder Mary mistook him for the gardener just outside the empty tomb. (John 20:15) 

-Dr. Jim Baldwin